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﻿Just a Little Off the Top, Please…

When it comes to trimming your grass, the four most important words to remember are these: Mow high, mow sharp. “Mow sharp” simply means that you need to keep a razor edge on your mower blade. That way, it’ll slice cleanly through the grass, leaving as little wiggle room as possible for escaping moisture and invading germs.

As
for the first part of that rule, the classic rule of green thumb—and an easy
one to remember—is to never cut more than one-third of the height of the grass
at any one time. What that means in terms of actual inches depends on the type
of grass and the season. In the heat of summer, your grass is most vulnerable
to sunburn and water loss. So always let it grow beyond its maximum height by
one-third to slow its growth, conserve moisture, and inhibit weeds. Then cut it
back to its maximum, not minimum,
height when you mow.

Now
there is just one more important thing to remember, and that is not to let your
grass get too high. Turfgrasses that
grow much over 3 inches tall tend to get thin and stringy and don’t form that
nice, uniform look that we love in our lawns. Overly tall grass also tends to
fall over and to get matted in wet weather, which may cause it to take it a
long time to dry out, giving fungal diseases a chance to set in.

For more grass-growing and mowing tips and tricks, check out our bestselling book, Green Grass Magic! And you can even try it FREE for a full 21 days with our Free Preview!